Teachers’ Notes Key Stage 1
Mrs Jessop and the Maths Lesson Of Doom
This play has been developed to support the teaching of
numeracy in schools at Key Stage One and to reinforce
much of the number work tested at the end of Year 2.
The main focus of the play is on number patterns,
mental arithmetic and approaches to problem solving,
including work with a number line and hundred square.
Each mathematical idea is reinforced throughout the play by involving
the audience directly in both the calculations and the methodology
employed in problem solving and encouraging them to use a variety of
approaches to achieve a single answer. Throughout the play the work is
put into a number of everyday contexts through which the problems are
explored.
The following pages provide a summary of the work covered and
examples of how it is put into practice in the play.
PLACE VALUE
We introduce the idea of
tens and units and show
what we mean by counting a
number of sheep into
batches of ten and what’s
left over.
There are 23
sheep so we count out two
lots of ten and find we have three left over, thus we
have 23 sheep.
another ten
one ten
three left
over
We then play the game ‘Biggest and Smallest’ using five children from
the audience. Each child is given a different number to hold: 17, 58, 85,
10 or 6 and we look at each number in turn to see how many tens and
units make up the number. Then with the help of the audience we put
the numbers in order from the smallest to the largest.
NUMBER PATTERNS
Throughout the play we
look at tables as
number patterns on a
number square.
We start with the 2
times table and explain
that it’s every other
number – all the even
numbers.
We move onto the 10
times table and see that
it’s all the numbers
ending in a zero.
Finally we look at the 5
times table and see that
it’s every number that
ends in a 0 or a 10.
Each time we look at a table we chant the number pattern forwards then backwards
and repeat the exercise through again for each table.
COUNTING ON
We look at various methods of calculation and how to
employ them in simple calculations. We start by looking
at ‘counting on’ using a number line. The audience
learn an action to help them remember ‘counting on’.
The audience are then given this problem: Johnnie goes into a sweet
shop. How much will it cost him to buy 7p worth of Millions and a
Refreshers Bar costing 10p?
We introduce a number line and tell the children that with adding you can
do it in any order so to make it easier always start with the biggest
number first. The calculation is set up. 7 + 10 is rearranged to become
10 + 7 and is put on a number line:
So we see that 7 + 10 = 17, and finally we answer the problem:
Johnnie spends 17p.
The audience learn this song:
When you see a problem
It’s easy to overcome
Read the instructions carefully
Then organise the sum
Answer the calculation
Then answer the problem too
Then the world of mathamtics
Will be easy for you.
Estimate, Count on, count back,
Round and then adjust
Learn your tables, know your bonds
Break your numbers up
With every problem we see the children must read the instructions
carefully, organise the sum, answer the calculation, then answer the
problem. We try them on a few more calculations:
Johnnie went into a sweet shop and spent 12p on some fizzy
dummies and 25p on a bag of peanuts. How much did he spend in all?
We organise the sum: 12p + 25p = ?
Then rearrange the calculation to put the bigger number first:The
25 + 12 = ?
Using a number line we start at 25 and count on 12, breaking it into one
jump of 10 and one of 2
10
2
25
35
37
So Johnnie spent 37p
The final problem is set: Johnny has 66p. He then spends 30p in a
sweet shop on some chew. How much money does Johnny
have left?
This time we need to take away 30 to see what’s left, so we use a
number line to ‘count back’ from 66:
10
10
10
46
36
56
We tell the audience that you can’t move the calculation around if you’re
taking away so we start at 66 and count back in three lots of
ten to find the answer.
We answer the problem: Johnnie has 36p left.
BREAKING NUMBERS UP
The next method we look at is ‘breaking numbers up’ ie. partitioning
numbers into tens and units and dealing with then seperately. The
audience are taught an action to help them remember ‘breaking
numbers up’.
The problem is set up: Johnnie goes into a sweet shop and buys a
bubblegum for 11p and a lollipop for 23p. How much does
he spend?
We organise the sum:
11 + 23 = ?
Dealing with the tens first:
10 + 20 = 30
We then deal with the units
1+3 =4
Then add the two answers together
30 + 4 = 34
The next problem is: Johnnie goes into a sweet shop and buys a twix for
55p and a bag of pickn’mix for 43p. What does he spend in total?
So we have
We start with the tens
Then the units
Then add the two answers together
Johnnie spends 98p
55 + 43 = ?
50 + 40 = 90
5 +3 = 8
90 + 8 = 98
So
66
The final problem uses ‘breaking numbers up’ to solve a subtraction
calculation: Johnny still has 87p of his pocket money so he buys a can
of Dr Pepper for 62p. How much does Johnny have left?
Organise the sum: 87 - 62 = ?
Again, starting with the tens
Now the units
Add the answers together
has 25p left
80 - 60 = 20
7-2 = 5
20 + 5 = 25
So Johnnie
ROUNDING AND ADJUSTING
The next section of problems all use ‘rounding’ as the best method to
solve the calculation. Again, the audience is taught an action to remind
them of the method.
Question 1 is 74 + 9.
Our hero, Baz, takes the audience through the steps you need to take to
solve the problem using ‘rounding and adjusting’.
First we round the 9 up to 10 giving us the calculation: 74 + 10 = 84
Then we adjust by taking away the 1 we’d added:
84 – 1 = 83
Question 2: 49 + 50 = ?
Here we start by rounding the 49 up to 50 giving us:
50 + 50 = 100
Then we adjust by taking away the 1 we’d added:
100 – 1 = 99
Question 3: 101 - 40 = ?
This time we round the 101 DOWN to 100 and we have: 100 – 40 = 60
The adjust by ADDING the 1 this time:
60 + 1 = 61
NUMBER
BONDS
We explain that
number bonds
are pairs of
numbers that added together make 10, such as 7 and 3 or 8 and 2, and
that you can also have number bonds up to 20, such as 18 and 2 or 11
and 9.
With the audience we then play a game, where one of the characters
holds up a number and the audience has to tell them the number bond
for 10.
We start with 5, and get the answer 5. The we work through a series of
other number bonds: 7 and 3, 4 and 6, 1 and 9, 3 and 7.
We then try the audience on some number bonds for 20: We hold up 6
and get the answer 14, then 5 and 15, 7 and 13 and finally 18 and 2.
WHAT’S MY NUMBER?
The play concludes with a number quiz: ‘What’s my number?’. A series
of problems are posed and the audience, with the main protagonist, are
encouraged to solve them using each of the methods we’ve looked at
throughout the play, which serves as a quick revision of all the number
work we’ve been looking at over the previous hour.